church and culture

First!   Before we ever went on retreat, we had an awesome, truly special last morning with the team from New Bedford Church!  I do wish it hadn't started so early (6:30 am departure) and hadn't included 12 people, all their bags, and all our bags for retreat in one 15 passenger van (I really should have gotten a picture, but was thoroughly buried.)  But we made it to Elizay's church, right on the water by the airport, by the time the service started at 7:10.

Seven-ten seems early until you realize how hot the cement and tin structure on the water gets inside (wish beautiful cloth covering all the windows and air circulation)...by the time the service finished at 9:30 we were pretty drenched!  It was a great service, however, and I was so glad to be all worshiping together.  That just always strikes me as special when we have people from outside of Haiti here.  Blending cultures and languages in worship is just something heavenly.

I'm never aware of how culturally Matt preaches until I'm trying to translate his preaching for a group of people from my culture.  Explaining what his stories and examples mean, culturally, always makes me happy that they are well understood and appreciated by the culture he's there to share the Gospel with!  This day he outlined some of the necessities of salvation that are often entirely passed over...probably different elements often passed over in our home culture.  

We really did love having these guys with us...and being at New Bedford this summer will be all the more fun :)  THANK YOU all for coming!  We took them to a quick breakfast in town and then off to the airport, and were on the long road to the DR by 11:30!

The first of the board members start arriving today, so I'm off to start supper, but I'll get to retreat next!